Comparative study of faculty evaluation of teaching practice between Chinese and U.S. Institutions of higher education

Abstract

Along with the "massification" of higher education in China since the late 1990s, the issue of quality and excellence appeared at the top of China's higher education agenda. Since faculty evaluation of teaching is one of the major approaches adopted by China's higher education sector to pursue quality and excellence, it is valuable to examine the effectiveness of faculty evaluation of teaching practices adopted by the Chinese higher education institutions (HEIs). Study of current literature reveals some similarities and differences between the faculty evaluation of teaching policies and practices between Chinese and American higher education sectors. This paper examines the specific practices adopted by some top-tier Chinese HEIs and American elite colleges and universities, summarizes and analyzes the major differences and similarities of faculty evaluation of teaching practices between these two countries' top-tier HEIs, and discusses the applicability of the American models to the Chinese setting of higher education. Finally, a set of best practices regarding faculty evaluation of teaching are proposed for Chinese HEIs.

Academics’ feedback on the quality of appraisal evidence

“…This finding supports the suggestions made by Nygaard and Belluigi (2011) that a contextualised approach should be developed to address the complexity of appraisal. This finding of tying in appraisals with professional development concurs with those of Chen and Yeager (2011) and Nie and Xu (2006). As Chen and Yeager (2011) reported, academics wished to have prompt dialogical feedback that could help with further improvement, the ability to exchange opinions with experts and the provision of training opportunities.…”

“…Although the multi-sources approach to appraisal has been gaining increasing attention, little is known on how the quality of these sources is controlled and assessed. In studies on staff appraisal in China, quality issues have been reported especially with regard to the ineffectiveness of collecting and interpreting data (Chen and Yeager, 2011). In addition, Zou et al (2012) found, by document analysis of self-appraisal reports from 53 universities, that the quality of tertiary education is interpreted institutionally as organisational, rather than educational, quality.…”